Regular Show Vietnam Remake Continued
by FuManchu4465
Summary: "Darrel!" Mordecai screamed. "Darrel! What did you do!" Darrel turned around, dropping the dead civilian and looked straight into Mordecai's eyes. "I did what I had to." He said firmly. Mordecai stared at him for a second. Then, he punched Darrel in the nose. I just wanted to continue the Regular Show Vietnam Remake so here it is. This was originally Mastfic's idea.
1. Boot Camp

**I just really wanted to continue regularwars2 story so this would technichly be the second chapter. Read and review. **

Chapter 1

Sweat dripped from Mordecai's forehead as he jogged in the hot sun with his M-14. He was training to be an officer in Vietnam and right now he was jogging with all the other officers in training. The drill sergeant was chanting the part of a song and the trainees would chant back the other part.

"I love workin' for Uncle Sam," the sergeant yelled.

"I love workin' for Uncle Sam," the men yelled back.

"It lets me know just who I am." the sergeant yelled.

"It lets me know just who I am." the men yelled.

"One, two, three, four, United States Marine corp."

"One, two, three, four, United States Marine corp."

"One, two, three, four, I love the Marine corp."

"One, two, three, four, I love the Marine corp."

It was two weeks after Mordecai had been drafted into the service. Since he had finished college so he was training to be an officer. His spikes had been shaved off the first day.

Suddenly the sergeant yelled halt. The men stopped with their rifles held against their chests. Mordecai was in the front line of a column of men. To the right of Mordecai was a man named Bill Poe, a friend that Mordecai had made during the first day. To the left of Mordecai was a man whose name he hadn't quit learned yet.

The drill instructor walked back and forth inspecting all the men, finding things to yell at them for. When the instructor got to Mordecai he stopped. His icy blue eyes made shivers run up and down Mordecai's spine. He looked Mordecai up and down before he stopped.

"Private Birdie (a nick name given to him at the beginning of the first week) your fucking shoe is untied," the drill sergeant yelled at him.

Mordecai looked down to see that he was right. Suddenly he felt a cold palm hit his left cheek as the sergeant slapped him.

"Never break eye contact with me, maggot," the sergeant yelled.

"Sir, yes, sir," Mordecai yelled, staring straight ahead.

The sergeant moved to Bill and started yelling at him. Soon the men started marching again.

That night after dinner the trainees had a few minutes to talk before they went to sleep. Mordecai was talking to Bill.

"So, dude, how did you get into the Marines?" Mordecai asked out of curiosity.

"Well, after college I didn't have enough money to start a life of my own and I couldn't go back to my Pa because we got into a fight before I left for college. We both said things that we shouldn't have. So anyways, I didn't have enough money for anything so I just decided to go into the Marines. Maybe serve my country or something," Bill explained.

"Oh."

"What about you, man, uh, bird. How'd you get into the corp?" Bill asked.

Mordecai sighed as he remembered the fear he had felt as he had read the letter from the government.

"My wife, Margaret, and I were out of the job. We were looking for jobs in the paper when I received a letter from the government. Said I had been picked at random to join the Marines. I left three weeks later," Mordecai said.

"You got a wife, man? Shit. I was thinking about getting married to this girl I fell in love with. We both went to the same classes. I would have asked her on a date, but I was too nervous. Plus, after joining the corp, I didn't want to create another broken heart here in America. Just in case, you know, in case I…got shot," Bill said. Mordecai couldn't help but remember how nervous he had been when he had asked Margaret out for the first time. He had stuttered a lot.

"You'll get over it, the nervous part. I know I did eventually," Mordecai said.

Then he fell silent because he was thinking about the second part Bill had said about dying in war. A couple minutes later the drill sergeant turned off the lights and left. Before Mordecai went to sleep he wondered what Margaret was doing.

Margaret had fallen asleep after a day of worrying for Mordecai even though she knew that he wasn't in Vietnam yet. She was dreaming about opening the door and, instead of receiving an American flag from two soldiers, found the corpse of her husband. His eyes were open and staring at her. He was standing up right and was covered in gore.

"Honey, I'm home," he said with a smile.

Margaret woke up screaming. She got control of herself and stopped screaming.

"It was only a dream, just a dream," Margaret kept telling herself.

Soon she drifted off to sleep, again.

**One week and six days later**

It was the last day of boot camp. Mordecai's spikes were starting to grow back. For four hard weeks Mordecai had endured physical and mental pain. He had marched for hours, run through the obstacle course hundreds of times, done over a thousand pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, and became the best shot in the camp at target practice.

Now he was sitting on Bill's cot, which was right under his. It was almost time to rest and they were talking, again.

"So are you afraid of dying?" Bill asked.

"If I said no then I wouldn't be human," Mordecai responded.

"Man, a week after I get there the Gooks are gonna know who I am," Bill said.

"Oh really. How?" Mordecai asked.

"Because I'm gonna kill twenty of them in the first day. I ain't afraid of no Viet Cong," Bill said.

Mordecai laughed at this. He didn't know why, he just found it funny.

"Yeah, man. So just send me a letter once you're out of the war and maybe we can hang out," Mordecai said.

The drill sergeant turned out the lights and Mordecai crawled under his covers. He lay awake for hours wondering what was in store for him tomorrow. He finally fell asleep at twelve o'clock, midnight.

**Next day**

The plane ride to Vietnam was horrible. It was very shaky which made Mordecai nauseous and the man next to him puked on his lap halfway through. Once they landed and the plane doors opened Mordecai was blasted by the hot, humid air. As he stepped out onto Vietnam soil, he was surrounded by chaos.

He walked with the others and eventually got his gear, his M-16, and his helmet. After he had his gear and his green Marine clothing on he was hurried of to a Huey. While Mordecai was getting onto the Huey he heard Forunate Son by Creedence Clearwater Revival was playing on the radio.

As the Huey took off Mordecai took out a picture of Margaret that he had brought with him before he left. She was smiling at the camera as she posed. The ocean was behind her. Mordecai had taken the picture while they had been on a date at the beach. He stuck the picture in the inside of his helmet and put the helmet on.

He looked down at the green vegetation below. It raced by as the Huey flew by. Soon the helicopter was landing at the place where Mordecai was supposed to meet his troops. It was a huge clearing with hooches everywhere for the troops and officers to sleep in.

As the chopper landed Mordecai took a deep breath.

'This is it,' he thought. Then he stepped off the chopper with his duffle bag.


	2. Getting to Know the Men

**Okay, so this is the next chapter. Read it, tell me what you think and I'll have the next chapter up soon.**

Chapter 2

Most of the soldiers were walking around outside, having a barbecue, drinking beers, or tossing a football around. There was music playing loud enough in one of the hooches that it could be heard outside. All of the men were relaxing, as if they weren't even in a war. Most of the guys were wearing green short sleeve shirts and green pants. Others were just wearing pants.

The hooches were lined up so that there were ten on one side of the clearing and ten on the other.

"Officer's quarters?" Mordecai asked one of the men. All the officers slept apart from the enlisted. He pointed to the barrack in the center on the right. Mordecai thanked him and walked into it.

Inside most of the bunks had been taken except for a few in the back. Mordecai took one under a lieutenant wearing glasses and reading a thick novel. He looked up when Mordecai dropped his duffle bag onto the ground.

"You the new lieutenant?" he asked.

"Yeah, lieutenant Quintel," Mordecai said.

"I'm lieutenant Hugy, but everyone calls me Bug Eyes," Bug Eyes said.

"Nice to meet you, Bug Eyes," Mordecai said.

"So you taken over third platoon?" Bug Eyes asked.

"I guess so. Which barrack are they in?" Mordecai asked.

"Hooch eighty-eight, last one on the left," Bug Eyes said, pointing to the hooches across from the officer's hooch.

"Thanks," Mordecai said as he started walking towards the door.

"Oh, and, Quintel." Mordecai turned.

"Yeah?"

"Watch out for Private Darrel. He's a jerk to everyone." With that Bug Eyes went back to reading his novel.

'Whatever,' Mordecai thought as he walked back outside into the hot humid air. As he was walking to Hooch eighty-eight Mordecai noticed how good the barbecue smelled. 'I'll get some later,' he thought.

Mordecai heard people talking inside, but as soon as he stepped in everything went quit. Everyone turned to look at him. Most were humans except for a light green sparrow leaning against the wall and a red fox on one of the bunks. Mordecai felt uneasy as they stared at him. Finally he spoke.

"I am Lieutenant Quintel, your new commanding officer. Since I don't know any of you I'd like to go around and have everyone say their name and their job in this platoon." He pointed to the green sparrow.

"I am Sergeant Sparrow, the platoon leader," the sparrow said. Mordecai noticed that Sparrow was wearing a green bandanna. The person next to him stood up.

"Private Jackson, map reader," he said.

"Corporal Venny, rifleman," a man on a bunk said.

"Private Simon, but everyone calls me Yoyo. Rifleman," the guy on the top bunk said.

"Why do they call you that?" Mordecai asked.

"Because I'm the best in the whole regiment with the yoyo," Yoyo said.

"Okay, next."

A dark skinned guy that was polishing a shotgun on his bunk said,

"Corporal Hillard, rifleman."

"Private Darrel, I carry the M-79 grenade launcher," a man leaning against Corporal Hillard's bunk said.

In the middle of the floor four guys were sitting in a circle. The one closest to Darrel spoke first.

"Private Nathan, radioman," he said.

The next guy was big, probably a football player in high school.

"Private Wolock, M-60 shooter," he said. "And this little guy right here is my bro, Private Turner." He put one of his massive arms around the neck of the guy next to him.

"Yep, and I'm the scout," Turner said.

"I'm Private Smith, the medic. Probably one of the best in the whole company," the last guy in the circle said.

"And I'm Private Fox, sniper," the red fox said.

"Good. Now is there anyone else that isn't here?" Mordecai asked. The soldiers shook their heads. "Good."

As Mordecai left a barrel was suddenly jammed into Mordecai's back.

"Put hands up, dirty American," someone said.

Mordecai yelped in surprise and whirled around.

"Ronny?" Mordecai asked surprised.

"The one and only," the younger blue-jay said, laughing. "You should've seen your face. You thought it was a real Gook, didn't you?"

Mordecai laughed too. He put his arm around Ronny's neck.

"You little devil. I haven't seen you since I left for college," Mordecai said. "What're you doing here?"

"Finished high school but didn't have enough money to get into college," Ronny explained. "What are you doing here?"

As the brothers talked they ate some barbecue and drank some Radicola.

"So you finally got up enough guts to ask out that Margaret girl, uh?" Ronny asked.

"Yep. Happiest day of my life," Mordecai said as he took a sip of his soda.

Suddenly a private came running up.

"Which one of you is Lieutenant Quintel?" he asked

"I am," Mordecai said.

"Captain Wales wants to see you, sir," the private said.

"Alright, let's go." Mordecai got up and followed the grunt.

The enlisted man led him to a big tower with a round dish on top and a small building at the base of it.

"He's in there, sir," the soldier said.

Mordecai nodded and walked in. Inside were ten men making it quite cramped. Five of the men were at a few different desks operating their own radio. Captain Wales was leaning over one of the men's shoulders listening to his radio. The captain's face looked serious.

"Don't worry," he said to the man on the other side of the radio. "We'll get back up for you immediately." Then he turned to a messenger who was standing straight up. "You, go find Lieutenant Bug Eyes and tell him to gather his platoon. Tell him they're going on a rescue mission to get fifth platoon," the captain ordered.

"Sir, yes, sir," the messenger said and ran out of the building.

"You wanted to see me, sir," Mordecai said, bringing his hand up in a salute.

"Aw yes, Lieutenant Quintel. At ease," Captain Wales said. Mordecai brought his hand down. "Your platoon will be going on a patrol to night at twenty hundred hours (eight o'clock). Tell your troops and be ready to move out when it is time."

"Anything else, sir?" Mordecai asked.

"Not that I can think of. Dismissed," The captain said.

"Sir, yes, sir," Mordecai said. He saluted again and left.

Outside an orange haired sergeant with red side burns was chasing Ronny around the whole camp. Mordecai saw this and quickly stopped them.

"Woe, woe, woe, what's going on here?" Mordecai asked, putting a hand out in front of the two to stop them.

"This little devil poured beer down my shirt," the sergeant growled. Ronny snickered. "Shut-up you little brat," the sergeant yelled.

"You'll have to excuse my brother for that. He is a little annoying when he decides to prank people," Mordecai said. "Ronny, come with me."

The two brothers walked away from the fuming sergeant. They stopped when they were out of earshot of the man.

"Okay, I have to admit, that was pretty funny," Mordecai said. Ronny snickered again. "But seriously, don't get in trouble anymore, please."

"Okay," Ronny said. Then he dashed off to prank someone else.

Mordecai sighed. 'He's just like Rigby,' he thought.

Suddenly he felt a pang of sadness. He missed them. The whole crew. Rigby, Pops, Skips, Eileen, High Five Ghost, even Muscle Man and Benson. But he especially missed Margaret. Again he wondered what his wife was doing.

Margaret was had just gotten a job at the movie shack. She had to worked behind the counter with a guy who always wore glasses and a baseball cap. She would start work tomorrow.

Margaret drove home silently worrying about her husband. 'I hope he comes home in one piece,' she thought.

**20:00 (8:00 p.m.)**

Mordecai watched the chopper as it came in for a landing. He had on his helmet with the picture of Margaret in it, a pack full of things he needed, a .45-caliber pistol and fifteen M-16 clips strapped to his waist, and an M-16 in his hands. His hands were trembling. As the Huey landed Sparrow shouted orders.

"Alright, everyone on the chopper. Move, move, move."

Mordecai and Sparrow waited until everyone had gotten on, then got on together. As the chopper took off Mordecai felt sick to his stomach, but he didn't puke. He looked around at the other men. They all had stony faces except for Wolock and Turner. Those two were playing punchies for a seat.

Mordecai studied Wolock for a second. The machine gunner had two belts of bullets wrapped around his chest to for an X. He had another around his waist. Under the two belts of ammo he had on a flak jacket and a sleeveless green t-shirt. On his helmet Wolock had written "Property Of A Born Killer." In one hand Wolock held the M-60 by the handle as if it weighed nothing at all. Mordecai also noticed for the first time the black mustache that Wolock was growing.

The blue-jay's eyes moved on to study some of the other people on the chopper. Nathan had a radio on his back that looked much too big for him. Fox was polishing his sniper scope. Hillard was carving something on his shotgun with a hunting knife. Yoyo was playing with a yoyo. Jackson was examining a map with Venny. When Mordecai looked at Darrel he was surprised by how he glared back. His eyes seemed to be filled with pure hatred. Mordecai quickly moved on. Smith was eating some M&M's and when Mordecai asked for some Smith obliged. Sparrow was smoking a cigarette. He stared at the scenery below them as his bandanna flapped in the wind. His face was completely emotionless.

As the Huey reached the area they would start the patrol at Turner moved to the side where Mordecai was. When the chopper was ten feet from the ground Sparrow started shouting orders again.

"Off the chopper, move it grunts!"

Turner was the first one to jump off. He was followed by Fox, Jackson, and Venny. Mordecai jumped off next. He fell through the air and landed with a crash, banging his knee. He quickly scrambled away as the next man jumped. After everyone was out the Huey left.

Turner led with Wolock bringing up the rear. Mordecai was around the middle with Venny in front of him and Darrel behind him. His hands were trembling so hard that he almost dropped his gun.

'So this is what it feels like to be scared,' Mordecai thought.

The troops marched for a couple hours through mossy swamps and dense jungle. Once when the platoon had reached a clear field lightening arched through the sky. Mordecai was awe struck by how different it looked from the lightening he saw in the city. The men soon entered the jungle again and reached the ruins of a white temple.

Turner put his fist up and everyone stopped. He and Fox carefully walked into the ruins. After a minute of waiting Fox came out and signaled for everyone to come in. As Mordecai walked inside he saw that the roof had caved in. Chunks of marble had fallen randomly and were big enough to provide cover for at least two people. The blue-jay noticed how well he could hear the crickets and other sounds of the night. Mordecai would have loved to lay down right there and go to sleep, but he had to give orders to make the area safe.

"Alright, Turner, Fox, Darrel, set up a perimeter with trip wires, flares, and claymores. Jackson, you've got first watch. I'll get second. Sparrow, you'll get third and Darrel will get fourth. Let's move men." Mordecai was surprised by how well he gave the orders.

Everyone obeyed and soon Mordecai was a loud to sleep. Before he drifted off it started to rain. He didn't dream.

At about eleven o'clock Jackson shook Mordecai awake.

"Lieutenant, it's your turn," he said as he handed Mordecai the night seeing telescope.

"Uh, wha. Oh, thanks," Mordecai said as he took the telescope.

Jackson soon fell asleep leaving Mordecai to watch for any Vietnamese. It had stopped raining. When his shift was done Mordecai reached over to wake Sparrow. But he stopped suddenly.

Out of the corner of his eye he had seen movement. He turned his head slowly to see a figure with a straw hat on. They both looked at each other for a second, Mordecai too afraid to move. Then the figure raised his gun and fired.


	3. Shot

**Alright, here's the third chapter. Sorry it took so long but school just started and it's been really hard finding time to write. Plus I'm going though a horrible writer's block. Anyway, enough talking. On with the show. Also there will be some cussing in this chapter. **

Chapter 3

Mordecai felt searing pain in his left shoulder. He ducked as the Viet Cong fired again. This time the bullet bounced harmlessly off his helmet. He struggled to raise his gun while the Gook took time to aim.

Suddenly a shot rang out. The Viet Cong's head jerked back and he crumpled to the ground. Mordecai hadn't fired his rifle. He looked around and saw Sparrow with his rifle raised.

"Thank you so-," Mordecai started to say, but Sparrow cut him off.

"Lieutenant, the flares," he said.

Mordecai remembered them. He quickly grabbed the detonator for the ones in the front entrance and clicked it three times. As the red light rose into the air it let Mordecai see everything around him. The light also woke up all the men. There were about twenty or thirty Gooks as far as Mordecai could see. They were either crawling on the ground, crouched down, or standing straight up.

One of them looked up at the blue-jay and then started firing. Mordecai jumped behind one of the ceiling chunks on the ground. He stayed there for a second not moving with the M-16 in his hands as the Vietcong fired at him. The bullets chipped the marble.

Suddenly Wolock dove next to him. He stayed there for a second trying to load his gun. By now everyone was shooting. Mordecai saw Sparrow and Smith hiding behind a chunk of ceiling near to them. Sparrow was on one knee shooting. Smith was reloading.

Mordecai felt the part of his shoulder were the bullet had hit him. He felt something sticky and wet. The blue-jay suddenly woozy.

"Hey Smith, I need your help," Mordecai yelled.

The medic looked up. Then he got on his belly and started crawling. Smith crawled a little closer, then stood up in a crouch and bolted over.

"What do you need, Lieutenant," he asked.

Mordecai showed him his shoulder. All around bullets were hitting the ground, sending dirt everywhere. Smith examined it then chuckled.

"Sir, what we have here is what I like to call a grazer." Mordecai looked at him confused. "The bullet just grazed your shoulder," Smith said.

Suddenly an explosive went off very close to the three soldiers. Wolock kept firing. Smith taped a little pad of gaze to Mordecai's shoulder.

"There, now we just call in a chopper when this firefight is done and they'll take you to a hospital and get that fully taken care of." Smith patted his shoulder and started to move down the line to see if anyone else was hurt.

The firing stopped abruptly. Mordecai peeked out from behind his cover. Everything was still. Suddenly Mordecai saw movement. A person got up and started running. Mordecai didn't even think. He raised his rifle and shot. The figure fell.

'Holy crap,' Mordecai thought. 'I just killed someone!'

Nothing else moved. Nothing made a sound. After a minute of this Mordecai thought, 'Give an order.'

"Okay, uh, Darrel, Fox, Yoyo, and, uh, Wolock check the back perimeter. Sparrow, Venny, and Hillard with me. We're checking the front perimeter," Mordecai said standing up. At first no one moved. "God dammit move soldiers," Mordecai yelled getting angry that nobody was listening.

The other marines started to stand up carefully. Sparrow and the two corporals followed Mordecai as he slowly walked out the front entrance in a crouched position. His gun swayed side to side. He was scared but his anger was starting to overpower the fear.

'I need them to respect me, follow my orders,' he thought. 'I need-,'

"Hey Lieutenant, can I talk to you for a sec?" Sparrow asked, coming up right behind him.

"Huh, sure. Hillard, take point."

Mordecai fell back a few steps with Sparrow. The green bird waited until the two corporals were out of ear shot before he started talking.

"Look man, I could tell from the look on your face after you shot that Gook that it was your first kill. I'm just wonderin' if you're alright," he said.

"Yeah I'm fine. Don't worry," Mordecai said.

"I'm serious, man. Some people can't handle it. Are you sure you're under control?" Sparrow asked.

"Yes, Sergeant. I'm okay. Now stay down and keep quiet," Mordecai ordered.

Sparrow nodded and continued walking. The four soldiers soon finished their sweep and walked back to the temple. When they got their Mordecai asked if anyone was wounded.

"Jackson took a bullet to the leg, but he'll be fine after two weeks in the hospital," Smith said.

"Anyone else?" Mordecai asked.

"Just you," Smith said.

"Good. You," Mordecai said pointing at Nathan. "Call in a medical chopper to pick me and him up." Then the blue-jay waited until Wolock and the others were back to hear his orders. They arrived a few minutes later.

"Alright listen up marines. Sparrow will be put in charge after Jackson and I are gone. Listen to his orders and call in a chopper pick up at five hundred hours," Mordecai said. "Got that?"

Everyone nodded.

"Okay, the chopper will be arriving in that field that we passed through about one mile back in five minutes, sir," Nathan said.

"Alright, Jackson," Mordecai said looking at the maps reader. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah, but barley. This leg hurts like hell," Jackson said through gritted teeth.

"You can use me as support, come on." Mordecai helped Jackson up and the two started walking toward the front entrance.

"Sir, wait," Fox said. Mordecai turned. "You're going to need someone to shoot if any Gooks show up."

Mordecai nodded. "Alright, come on."

Fox grabbed his rifle and jogged over. The three made their way out of the temple. Soon they were on their own in the jungle.

Mordecai looked around. It was pitch black. He could barely see the other two marines. Crickets seemed to chirp louder than ever. The blue-jay felt fear tug at his heart.

Suddenly the barrel of Fox's gun exploded as he fired three shots. The muzzle flash was bright and caught Mordecai off guard. He froze.

"What is it?" he whispered.

Fox pointed to a body a few feet away. Mordecai stared at it for a second.

"Let's go, we're almost to the field," Fox said, taking the lead.

The three continued walking. Eventually the three walked into the open field. The Huey was just starting to land. Mordecai and Jackson hurried over to the chopper while Fox followed them walking backwards, his gun at the ready to shoot anything that moved. Someone grabbed Jackson by the collar and hoisted him up onto the Huey. Mordecai climbed on after him.

"Fox," Mordecai yelled turning to the sniper. "Stay quiet and get back to the temple." Fox nodded then darted off. He seemed to melt into his surroundings. "Whoa," Mordecai muttered.

"Sir, I need to exam your wound," a medic short dark skinned said. Mordecai turned toward him.

"It's on my shoulder. Platoon medic said it was just a grazer," Mordecai said as the medic inspected his shoulder. The Huey took off.

"That's good," the medic said. "They'll have you fixed up by the end of the week and sent back here on… what day is it?"

"Wednesday," Mordecai said.

"Then they'll have you back here by next Monday," the medic said, grinning.

"Great," Mordecai said sarcastically.

"I know how you feel, sir," the medic said. Then he motioned for Mordecai to sit down. Mordecai sat. "By the way," The medic said sitting next to him. "What's your name?"

"Lieutenant Quintel," Mordecai said.

"Hm. Nice to meet you Quintel, I'm Corporal Sawny." Sawny extended his hand. Mordecai shook it. "I've seen people die on this chopper before," Sawny said.

"Really."

"Yep, poor guys got a bullet to the lung or the chest and they'd die in a minute. Some guys get lucky and…,"

As Sawny kept talking Mordecai stopped listening to him and stared down at the green landscape. Soon they arrived at their destination. When the Huey landed Mordecai was rushed off. The last thing he saw of Jackson was two paramedics carrying him off on the chopper in a stretcher.

Mordecai was lead to a waiting room where he waited for a doctor to tend to him. There was screaming in a room nearby. Then there was silence.

As Mordecai sat a man on a stretcher was rolled in. His leg had been blown off. His eyes were wide with horror while he gritted his teeth in pain. As the man was wheeled into another room Mordecai couldn't get the sight of the man's leg out of his head.

'So much blood,' he thought.

"I hope Margaret is having a better night then I am," Mordecai muttered.

Aside from worrying about her husband, Margaret was fine. Her job was paying her enough to keep the bills paid. At the moment she was sleeping very peacefully.

**So please review it and I'll try to have the next chapter up soon.**


	4. Back to Nam

This is the fourth chapter. I hope you like it read it and review it.

Chapter 4

**Sunday Afternoon**

Mordecai sat at a table in the cafeteria playing with his food. He was going back to his post tomorrow morning and he was starting to feel a little nauseous.

"Nothin I can really do about it," he muttered to himself as he used his fork to pick at his broccoli.

"Excuse me, sir. Are you Lieutenant Quintel?" Mordecai looked up to see a man with an envelope in his hand.

"Yeah," he said.

"Telegram from your wife," the postage man said, handing Mordecai the letter. He suddenly felt very happy.

"Thanks," Mordecai said, taking the envelope and opening it.

Dear Mordecai,

I hope all is well on your end. I finally got a job at the Movie Shack. Rigby and the boys from the park came by today to see if there was any word from you. They are all very worried for you. I am also very scared. Please, don't be a hero over there. Stay alive. Write me back as soon as you get this.

Your Loving Wife,

Margaret

When Mordecai finished the letter, he folded it up and stuck it in his chest pocket.

'I'll write a letter to her when I get back to the hooch,' he thought.

Then he started eating his food. After he finished he decided to check on Jackson. Mordecai got up and walked through white hallways until he reached Jackson's room.

Jackson was lying on a bed reading a magazine. When Mordecai entered he tried to salute.

"At ease," Mordecai said. "So Jackson, you okay?"

"I'm stable," Jackson said as he got back into his position on the bed. "But I won't be able to fight anymore. I'm getting shipped back to the World tomorrow."

"Okay. Do you want me do something for you or get you something," Mordecai asked. Jackson thought for a moment before he said,

"Well, yeah. You could do something for me. Do you remember the patrol?"

"Yeah, what about it?" Mordecai asked.

"Can you tell me how you felt during the whole thing?"

"Sure I guess," Mordecai said. "I was really scared. Scared that if I died my wife would get my body back in a box and I would never see her again."

"Alright, now can I tell you something that Sergeant Sparrow once told me?" Jackson asked.

"Yeah, sure."

"Don't think. When you're in a firefight don't think, just do," Jackson said.

"But I-" Mordecai started to say.

"Look, I know you were scared, we all are. But you can't think about that stuff. That'll get you killed. Like it did to the last Lieutenant in charge of our platoon. He thought too much about death and didn't see the Gook until it was too late. So don't think. Just do," Jackson said ending his speech. Everything was silent. Mordecai was thinking hard about what Jackson had said.

"Okay," Mordecai said breaking the silence. "I'll try."

"Good. Hey can you tell a nurse on your way out to get me some food. I'm starvin'," Jackson said.

"Sure," Mordecai said as he walked out.

Margaret sat behind the front counter waiting for customers. She was working the graveyard shift when the store barely saw any customers. She was still scared for Mordecai, but she was getting better at not showing it.

'I already know how this day is going to end,' Margaret thought as she looked at the deserted movie shack. 'I'm gonna end my shift, say hi to Eileen, and go home and cry. I'll cry because I can't do anything to get my husband back to me.'

Her thoughts were ended abruptly when she heard the front door bell ring. She looked up to see Rigby walk in.

"How's it going?" the short raccoon asked.

"Fine," Margaret muttered.

"Any word from Mordecai?"

"No."

"Oh, okay," Rigby said. His eyes seemed to go dull and lifeless again. His eyes had been like that ever since Mordecai left.

'What should I expect?' Margaret thought as she stared at Rigby's lifeless eyes. 'They were best friends forever.'

"Well bye," Rigby said. Then he walked out.

**Monday morning**

Mordecai stood in front of the hospital. He had on his fatigue and helmet. In his hands was his rifle. The Huey was just starting to land. Mordecai jumped on and the chopper took off again. The blue-jay took a next to a dark skinned private.

He looked very sturdy and very young. Mordecai guessed that the boy was no older then sixteen. The boy's nose was flat and his ears hugged the side of his skull. He barely had any hair on his head.

The boy looked up and saw Mordecai looking him over. Mordecai looked away.

"C-can I h-help you, sir?" the boy asked, stuttering a little. After staying silent for a minute, Mordecai looked back at the boy.

"Well yes," he said. "I was just wonderin', how old are you?"

"S-sixteen, sir. And t-two quarters," the boy stuttered.

"Really. And, uh, what's your name?"

"S-simpson B-burk, sir. Or p-private Burk. I'm h-headed off t-to serve i-in t-third platoon," Burk said. "I g-gonna assist t-the sixty shooter."

"Oh," Mordecai muttered. "That's funny. I'm the lieutenant for third platoon."

"T-then what you d-doin' in t-the hospital?" Burk asked.

"I got shot in the shoulder," Mordecai said, then saw the fear in Burk's eyes. "I'm fine though. The bullet just grazed me."

Burk seemed to relax a little.

"So what're you doing here?" Mordecai asked trying to change the subject.

"School w-was too h-hard f-for me," Burk said.

"Oh."

For a moment all Mordecai could hear was the blades of the chopper cutting through the air. Then Burk broke the silence.

"Lieutenant?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"H-how many m-men have d-d-died under your c-comand?"

Mordecai was a little taken aback from the question.

"None, yet," he said after a few moments.

"T-that's good." Burk said. "Ya kn-now, b-back at s-school I didn't h-have many f-friends."

"I understand," Mordecai said.

A few minutes later the chopper landed. Mordecai jumped off. He took in the scene in front of him. It looked like when he had first arrived. Guys were eating barbeque, drinking beer, and playing football.

Mordecai helped Burk get his stuff to his hooch then left to find Sparrow. Eventually he found him.

"Hey Sparrow," Mordecai said as he approached the other bird.

"Yes, sir," Sparrow said giving a crisp salute.

"What's the status with the platoon?"

"Well, on Saturday we got a new guy, Private Lance. He's seen fighting in the cities. I'm acutely surprised by how silent he is. Usually guys from the destroyed cities are bragging about how much tougher they are then us, which is a load of bull. Anyway, today we got a rookie to help with the M-60. A Private Burk."

"Yeah, I met him," Mordecai said.

"Next Wednesday we're supposed to get a new map reader. I don't know who it is," Sparrow said.

"Good, good. Well thank you Sergeant," Mordecai said.

"You're welcome, sir," Sparrow said.

Mordecai turned and walked away. Ten minutes later Mordecai was in the middle of a barbeque eating contest. Up until six o'clock Mordecai played football, drank a little beer, and ate more barbeque.

Finally he went into the lieutenant's hooch. When he got to his bunk started writing his letter to Margaret. Mordecai wrote about the men he met. He wrote about how he had gotten shot, but was fine.

"I wouldn't include that part about getting shot."

Mordecai whirled around to see Bug Eyes behind him.

"How long have you been here?" Mordecai asked.

"Since dinner. I don't usually go outside that much," Bug Eyes said.

"Why?"

Bug Eyes shrugged his shoulders.

"You should," Mordecai said. "Anyway, what were you saying about the letter."

"Well I wouldn't mention getting shot. It'll worry your wife too much," Bug Eyes said.

"So I just lie?" Mordecai asked.

"No, just don't tell her about that," Bug Eyes said.

"Okay."

Mordecai finished the letter, put it in an envelope, and walked outside. He put it in a little mail box outside his hooch then walked back inside. As Mordecai collapsed on his bed he saw Bug Eyes looking at him.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing. You just look anxious," the man with glasses said.

"I am," Mordecai said.

"I can help you get rid of that anxiety."

"Really?" Mordecai said sitting up.

"Yep, follow me," Bug Eyes said.

The lieutenant walked out the door. Mordecai got up and followed him. Bug Eyes lead him down the line of hooches on the left side. There, at the end of the line, was a doorway stuck halfway into the ground.

A carpet covered the entrance. Behind the doorway was the roof to the underground hooch. Bug Eyes pushed aside the carpet and walked in. Mordecai followed.

As soon as he entered his eyes widened.

"Oh my God," Mordecai whispered.


	5. Hippie Wonderland

**Alright. I should just mention right now that the year this story is placed in is 1968. Anyway here's the fifth chapter. Read it and tell me what you think.**

Chapter 5

"We call it Hippie Wonderland," Bug Eyes said, smiling.

A pinkish glow seemed to envelope everything. The smell of smoke was thick in the air. A couch was in the middle of the room. It was occupied by a caramel skinned man smoking a thin white cigarette. Next to the couch was a cabinet. Next to the cabinet was an arm chair built out of sandbags. A boom box in the corner was playing a slow dance song.

Some of the men in the room were dancing to the song. Others were laughing with guys or smoking thin strands of small cigarettes and drinking beer. Everyone was smiling and laughing. In the corner near the entrance a huge black skinned man wearing a green du-rag on was lifting eighty pound weights and giggling.

"His name is Titan," Bug Eyes said when he noticed Mordecai was staring the man lifting weights.

"He's huge, man," Mordecai muttered.

"I know," Bug Eyes said.

"Who are these guys?" Mordecai asked looking around at the men.

"Just guys," Bug Eyes said. "There all just trying to get away from the war."

"But their right in the middle of it," Mordecai said as the two lieutenants started walking into the barrack.

"I know, crazy, right?" Bug Eyes said. "Come on, follow me."

The two walked to a table near the back where a man with a fuzzy black beard was rationing beer.

"Hey Tony," Bug Eyes said in a loud voice.

"Bug Eyes," Tony replied in a hoarse voice, grabbing Bug Eyes's hand and pulling him in for a hug. "Man how long has it been?"

"Oh, I'd have to say about twenty-four hours," Bug Eyes said, breaking the hug.

The two marines laughed.

"Hey man," Bug Eyes said, grabbing Mordecai and pulling him over. "This is my bird bro, Lieutenant Quantel-"

"Quintel," Mordecai corrected.

"Right, right, Quintel. Anyway, he needs some stuff to help him relax. What have you got?" Bug Eyes asked.

"Well I have one thing," Tony said.

He started searching around the table.

"Now where is it?" he muttered.

"He can borrow mine," a familiar voice from behind Mordecai said.

Mordecai turned to see a green sparrow smoking what he took to be a miniature cigarette.

"Sparrow?"

"Yep," the bird said, grinning. "Have a little smoke of this."

He held out the cigarette. Mordecai hesitated for a second before taking it. The blue-jay held it to his beak and inhaled deeply. Suddenly, Mordecai felt very lightheaded and giddy. Unknowingly he grinned.

"What is this stuff?" he asked looking at the cigarette.

"Weed," Sparrow said, still grinning.

On any other occasion Mordecai would have thrown the drug on the ground and stepped on it, but for some reason he didn't.

"Wanna dance?" the sergeant asked.

Mordecai's grin widened.

"Why the hell shouldn't we?" he asked.

A new song, Tracks of My Tears by Smokey Robinson, had come on and a group of guys were standing in the middle of the room forming a circle. The two birds went and joined them.

With one arm slung over Sparrow's neck and the other arm slung over the caramel skinned man who had just been sitting down, Mordecai grinned while stepping left and right staying with the group's movement.

'People say I'm the life of the party'

'Because I tell a joke or two.'

As the song played some guys started trying to sing along. They were soon joined by the rest of the group.

'Although I might be a laughin' loud and hearty,'

'Deep inside I'm blue.'

Mordecai giggled at the lyrics. They seemed funny to him, as did everything else in the room. The group broke up and everyone just started dancing with whoever they could find.

'So take a good look at my face.'

The blue-jay found himself dancing with a black skinned marine wearing a green sleeveless shirt, his fatigue pants, and a du-rag. His face was covered with a big toothy grin, or at least with the teeth he had left.

'You'll see my smile looks out of place.'

'If you look closer, it's easy to trace,'

'The tracks of my tears.'

"Hey ya know somethin'," the marine with the du-rag yelled over the music.

"What?" Mordecai asked.

"We gonna win dis war. And ya know why?" the marine asked.

"Why?"

"'Cause we got boys with big ass guns over here fightin'," the man said, giggling.

Mordecai just nodded, still smiling.

He had decided to stop listening to the music. Suddenly Mordecai felt dizzy. He held his head with one hand as walked over to the couch.

"You okay?" the still grinning marine asked.

"I'm fine," Mordecai said.

"Okay," the man said as he turned to leave.

"By the way, what's your name?" Mordecai asked.

"It's Lance," Lance said.

"Oh," Mordecai replied.

His vision went fuzzy for a second.

"You sure you okay?" Lance asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired," Mordecai said, yawning. "Just need to close my eyes for a sec."

Mordecai closed his eyes and immediately fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Margaret was sleeping the exact same way.

**The next morning**

Mordecai woke up in his cot. He was still wearing his uniform and boots. He sat up very slowly and started to stretch.

"How did I get here?" he muttered.

"I carried you here after you blacked out on the couch," Bug Eyes said from atop his bunk. "The only thing I can say is you are pretty damn heavy."

"Huh, thanks," Mordecai said as he stood up and cracked his back.

"Might want to hurry, you're about to miss breakfast," Bug Eyes said.

"What?"

Mordecai didn't wait for an answer. He bolted out of the hooch and all the way to the mess tent. He made it just in time for the last serving of powdered eggs, bacon, fried potatoes, and what looked like squash.

Mordecai sat down at a table next to Tony. He was about to start eating when Tony said,

"Officers are s'posed to sit at the officers table, sir."

Mordecai looked at him sideways, then, hesitantly, got up and moved over to the officers table. There, Captain Wales was waiting for him. Mordecai quickly saluted him and sat down.

"You'll be going on another patrol," Captain Wales stated as Mordecai filled his mouth with food.

"What time?" Mordecai asked after swallowing a mouth full of powdered eggs.

"Noon. You and your platoon will be sweeping through the countryside. You'll evac in a chopper that'll be landing ten clicks north-east of where you start in a village call Chu-Lee," the captain explain.

"Yes sir," Mordecai said, saluting again as the higher ranking officer left. 'I hate patrols,' the blue-jay thought as he finished his eggs and moved onto his potatoes.

**Did you enjoy it? If you did, good. If you didn't, tough luck. Anyway, I'm thinkin of taken a two week brake from this story to start a different one. An original character of mine will be reappearing. Also, did anyone like The Man Out of History? I also might try to continue that one too. **


	6. Patrol Part 1

**Alright, I know it's been awhile since I've posted a chapter. Things have just been really busy. So anyway, I gonna try to continue that cowboy story and this story. It's just gonna take me awhile to write the chapters. So I hope you enjoy this story and leave a comment.**

Patrol: Part 1

The only light came from the bamboo bars at the entrance. On the other side was a Vietnamese guard. Past the guard was another underground room. Then there was a tunnel. Then freedom.

'No not freedom,' he thought. 'Not freedom, just the chance to run. The chance to run away from this dirty hell.'

As he thought this a grub crawled out of the dirt a few inches away from him. When he spotted it he launched himself at it. He landed on the dirt in front of it. Quickly he snatched it up and was about to eat it when he heard a whisper form behind him.

"Please," was all the voice could whisper.

He looked back at the marine sitting in the corner of the dirt room. The bird's face was covered with scratches and his right arm was wrapped in a torn piece of cloth. The cloth was dark red and sticky. His fatigue shirt was in shreds and his pants were covered with mud. The Vietnamese guards had already given him the "treatment".

For a second he resisted giving the bird the grub. He was so hungry. Plus the poor marine would probably be dead within two days. But something in the back of his mind spoke, a voice. The voice said, 'Your friend, you must remember your own friend. Then he remembered that they had been very good friends for a long time. He could not let his friend die.

"Here," he said, handing the bird the grub.

The bird could barely get it to his mouth, so he helped him. Then, when his friend had swallowed the grub, the marine sat back against the wall of dirt. He sat and stared at the dirt.

**Two Months Earlier**

The chopper blew up dust and a few pebbles into the air as it landed. Mordecai was ready and had his arm in front of his face to block the dust. When the Huey had touched down Mordecai yelled,

"Alright men, move it! Onto the chopper!"

The marines obeyed running and jumping onto the chopper. Mordecai was the last one on; making sure that everyone was on the Huey. Then he sat in one of the seats. On the radio an announcer was saying something about the song they just played.

"Anyway, here's the next song. To all those listening, enjoy," the announcer said. Then the next song started playing. It was Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater Revival.

While the song played Mordecai looked out at the passing jungle below him. He saw the shadow of the chopper on the green trees. Mordecai wondered if any gooks were watching the chopper as it passed overhead.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

Mordecai jumped and turned to see Corporal Venny behind him.

"Yeah, it is," Mordecai said, still a little surprised. Then he turned back to look at the passing trees.

"So where we headed today?" the corporal asked.

"Uh, hold on a sec," Mordecai said as he tried to recall the information Captain Wales had given him, "Let's see, we'll be sweeping the country side and evac in a small village ten clicks of where we start. The town is call Chu-Lee."

Venny flinched.

"What?" Mordecai asked.

"Nothin'," the marine said. Mordecai could tell he was lying.

"Corporal, what's wrong?" Mordecai asked in a firm voice.

"Well, the lieutenant before you died just outside the perimeter of Chu-Lee," the corporal said.

"Oh," Mordecai said, thinking about what Venny had just said.

"Corporal Venny, I need you for a sec," Sergeant Sparrow yelled from across the Huey floor.

"Yes sir," Venny said. Then he turned to Mordecai. "I'm just sayin' that you should be careful," the corporal said before leaving.

Then, before Mordecai could fully process this, the chopper landed and the green sergeant was yelling,

"Out of the chopper marines. Move it!"

Automatically, Mordecai's feet ran forward and he jumped onto the ground. He walked a few feet then stopped. Quickly he shook his head to clear his thoughts.

'I won't die here. I won't die like the last lieutenant. I just need to focus on what's going on around me,' Mordecai thought.

He took another step forward. Suddenly, the bushes in front of him erupted into gun fire.

**Sorry that the chapter is so short. I just needed to divide it into parts. I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible. Read it and let me know what you think.**


	7. Patrol Part 2

**Okay, after a long time, here is the second part of the patrol chapters. Sorry it took so long. Read it and review.**

Patrol Part 2

Mordecai hit the ground hard and for a second he was too dazed to realize what was happening. Then it all came rushing back to him. He looked around and spotted Sparrow and Wolock behind a tree stump and some shrubbery. Wolock was firing his gun at the unseen enemy while Sparrow was reloading. Mordecai turned his head and to his left he saw Nathan and Burk hiding behind a tree. Nathan was yelling into his radio and Burk was firing and pumping his shotgun like there was no tomorrow.

'Odd,' Mordecai thought as he stared at the two marines, 'the rookies are usually wetting their pants right now. Though, I don't have much room to talk there.'

Suddenly an explosion went off nearby.

"Crap man, I gotta get behind cover," Mordecai muttered as he started to get up. He looked up at Nathan and Burk again and saw something moving behind them. A figure with an AK-47 appeared in a brush right behind Burk. Everything slowed down. Time itself practically froze in Mordecai's perspective.

'Shit,' Mordecai thought. 'What do I do?'

"Shoot of course," a familiar harsh voice yelled at him.

Puzzled, Mordecai looked around until spotted him. When he saw him Mordecai muttered,

"Oh god, not you!"

"What are you looking at sweet heart," Mordecai's drill instructor yelled at him. "Use that goddamn rifle of yours and shoot the damn Cong."

"What if I miss and hit Burk instead?" Mordecai asked franticly.

"You don't have time to think lieutenant, take the fuking shot or let your marine die!"

Mordecai realized the drill sergeant was right. Then he remembered what Jackson had said. The lieutenant understood what he had to do. Time sped up to normal as Mordecai raised his M16.

"Burk move!" Mordecai yelled.

Burk turned around to see what was going on when Mordecai shot. The figure doubled over and Mordecai shot again. The figure fell this time.

'You didn't miss,' he thought to himself as he got up.

Quickly Mordecai sprinted over to where Burk and Nathan were. As he arrived at the cover Mordecai could hear Nathan yelling into the radio, saying,

"We need the air support now! Not bombers, just send back the chopper!"

"Nathan," Mordecai yelled over the gunfire.

"Yes sir," he answered, looking up. Nathan's cheeks and forehead were covered in brown soil and dirt from the explosion that had gone off a couple minutes ago.

"What have you asked for so far?" A bullet whistled past Mordecai's head, making him instinctively crouch down lower.

"I'm trying to get them to send back the chopper, sir." Another explosion went off, sending chunks of soil onto the three marines. "But they need you to confirm it."

"Give that here." Nathan handed over the radio and Mordecai spoke into it. "Hey, anyone there?"

"Yep, this is Gunny Sergeant Sandler, gunner on the four hundredth and sixty-first Huey chopper. Who the hell is this?" a board voice on the other side of the radio asked.

Mordecai yelled into the radio,

"This is Lieutenant Quintel of third platoon in the eighty-third company of the United States Marine Corps and if you don't turn that chopper around to assist us ASAP then I will report you and you chopper crew as deserters. Now get back here on the double and give us some damn support!"

"Uh, yes sir!" The Gunny Sergeant sounded very surprised.

"Dang," Nathan muttered in amazement.

"What, I want to keep you and the other guys alive," Mordecai replied. More bullets whizzed over their heads as Burk and other marines kept shooting. Mordecai looked around at the other men.

Lance, Turner, and Darrel were behind a fallen tree and a mound of dirt that was next to the tree, shooting at the unseen enemy. As Darrel was reloading he looked up at Mordecai and for a second he just stared. There was something in his eyes that Mordecai saw, something that scared him more than being shot. It was hate. Pure cold hatred.

It only lasted a second and Mordecai quickly turned his attention to the matter at hand. There was another explosion and this time Mordecai heard someone screaming. He looked around until he saw the wounded soldier. It was Smith. Smith was lying on the ground with his hands on his side as blood seeped out of a wound.

For a second Mordecai couldn't move. He just stared. Then he shook his head and muttered,

"Gotta keep your men alive." He turned to Nathan and yelled over the gunfire, "Tell that chopper to be ready to pick up a wounded."

"Who's wounded?" Nathan asked.

"Smith." Then to Burk, Mordecai yelled, "Burk, give me covering fire while I go help Smith."

Burk nodded and pumped his shotgun. As he fired off a shot Mordecai jumped over his cover and sprinted forward. While he ran Mordecai fired off a trio of shots. When he reached Smith, Mordecai used the strap on his M16 to keep it on his shoulder while grabbed the wounded medic. He grabbed the medic by the sides of his shirt and hoisted him over his right shoulder. Then Mordecai used the fireman carry to keep Smith in place while he ran back. The medic was very heavy and Mordecai almost dropped him twice. Mordecai's two pound flak jacket wasn't helping on easing the weight.

As Mordecai got back to his cover where Nathan and Burk were he noticed that the helicopter still hadn't arrived.

"Nathan, where's that chopper?"

"It's on its way sir. Look they're almost here."

Mordecai looked to where the radio man was pointing. Sure enough the helicopter was roughly twenty miles away and flying fast. But not fast enough. As Mordecai turned his head he saw some Vietnamese starting to run out of the forest in front of him. They hid behind rocks and trees, forcing the marines to fall back into the clearing where there was practically nowhere to take cover. Mordecai started to panic. Suddenly Sparrow appeared next to him.

"Sir, we need to call in a chopper to get us the hell out of here. There's too many of them."

"We are not pulling back sergeant. Help's on the way. Right now I need you to help stabilize Smith. Burk," Mordecai yelled to the private. The boy looked over at him. "Do whatever Sparrow tells you. You're his assistant until Smith is stabilized." Burk nodded.

Mordecai was about to leave when Sparrow stopped him.

"If we're holding this position then the men are going to need a leader. They're in chaos."

"I'll handle it Mordecai said.

Then he turned and ran out from behind his cover. He stopped in between his and Wolock's cover and started yelling,

"Come on men, move forward! Don't let these bastards push us back!"

He started shooting at the Vietnamese, hitting two before he started running forward. Mordecai jumped over a fallen log and started waving his right arm through the air, shooting with his left hand.

"Move forward marines!"

Bullets whizzed by as Mordecai ducked and rolled behind a stump and fallen tree that had been next to it. He had landed next to Fox.

"Shoot dude, what the hell happened to you?" Fox asked.

"I'm just tryin' to keep you guys alive," Mordecai said.

Suddenly Wolock landed next to Mordecai.

"What's up lieutenant?" he asked casually as if he wasn't in the middle of a war zone.

"Not much. Now come on, let's make the Charlie run."

Mordecai got up on one knee and turned right as a Viet Cong ran into him. Mordecai fell onto his back as the Cong landed on him. Both of their guns slid away. The Cong recovered first and started punching Mordecai in the neck and collar bone. Mordecai recovered enough to grab the man's left arm and force it away. Then he head butted the Viet Cong and they started grappling on the ground. Wolock and Fox were preoccupied with keeping the other Vietnamese away.

Mordecai suddenly was able to get his boots under the Cong's body and launch him through the air. As soon as he hit the ground the Cong was up again and pulled out a knife. Mordecai saw this and started wrestling with his holster to get the .45 out. He almost had the pistol out of its holster when the Cong let out a war cry and sprinted toward him.

"Crap," Mordecai muttered. He knew he wouldn't get the pistol out and cocked in time.

The Cong was almost on him when the Vietnamese's body jerked to the right and he crumpled. Confused, Mordecai looked around until he spotted the helicopter above the same spot where it had dropped the soldiers a couple of minutes ago. The man at the machine gun saluted and started shooting at anything that wasn't a marine.

"Fox, Wolock, fall back and get out of the choppers way," Mordecai yelled to the privates as he grabbed up his rifle.

The two privates turned and ran with Mordecai to a couple of dirt mounds that were out of the way of the Huey's fire. The helicopter started mowing down enemies left and right. Before Mordecai knew it, the Viet Cong were retreating. As the last one fell the Huey started to descend toward the ground.

When the Huey touched down two marines that Mordecai had never seen before jumped off and headed right for him. They were both dark skinned and one was taller than the other. The taller of the two had a beard starting to grow and was wearing a du-rag. He had a pug nose and long legs. The shorter one was a bit round and was completely clean shaven. He had a flat nose like Burk and some of his curly hair stuck out of his helmet. They both had an M16 as their weapon.

They walked up to Mordecai and saluted. The taller one spoke first.

"Sir, I am Private Thrasher, the maps reader. I arrived a few days early."

"And I," the short man said, "Am Sergeant Garret. I'm here because Captain Wales thinks third platoon is too small and needs more troops, which it does. We're the reason the chopper was late and we're sorry sir."

"That's alright. Have you guys seen any action?"

"Yes sir," they both said in unison.

"Good. Go join the others in forming a perimeter. I need to see to something."

The two Marines nodded and left. Mordecai turned and jogged over to where Smith was being loaded onto the helicopter.

"How is he?" Mordecai asked walking up.

"He's stable," Sparrow said. "But he wouldn't have made it if you hadn't dragged him to safety."

"Thank you sir," Smith said. "I owe you."

"You would have done the same thing," Mordecai said.

Smith smiled and said,

"Of course I would, I'm the medic."

"Just be careful and get back to us as soon as you can."

With that the helicopter started to lift up into the sky and Mordecai turned away.

'Time to finish this patrol,' he thought as he walked toward his men. 'I wonder if Margaret's day is as exciting as mine.'

At that very moment Margaret was driving home from finishing the graveyard shift at the Movie Shack. Glumly, she pulled into her driveway and got out of her car. Margaret walked over to the mail box, opened it, and pulled out the mail. While walking into her house, Margaret started flipping through the letters.

She was almost in her house when she stopped abruptly. Margaret blinked and looked at whom the letter was from. There was no mistaking it; she had gotten the first letter from her husband. The robin let out a happy shriek of joy and dashed into her house. Margaret opened the envalope as quickly as she could and started reading the letter.

Dear Margaret,

It's great to hear that everyone misses me. Though I thought Benson would be happy to see me leave. I also miss everyone else, but especially you. I wish I could be back at home right now and forget about the whole thing. It was nice to get the letter from you. The guys in my platoon that I am commanding all seem nice enough, except for this marine private named Darrel. He's always giving me the harry eye. If something bad happens between us, I don't want you to worry. I love you and tell Rigby that I said to stay out of trouble. I miss you all.

Sincerely yours,

Mordecai

Margaret smiled at the letter. She could practically hear her husband's voice reading this.

"I love you too," she whispered.

**Hope you liked it. I'll try and get the next chapter up as soon as possible. Also, check out my western story if you have the time. Some people like it. See ya later.**


	8. Patrol Part 3

**Here's the last chapter of the patrol. Enjoy. **

Patrol Part 3

Mordecai wiped sweat off his forehead as he walked through the thick forest. He walked through and past thick trees. The lieutenant had to be careful not to trip over the big roots of the trees that stuck out of the ground. Most of the sun's light was blotted out by the trees allowing a few beams to reach the ground. It wasn't much but it was enough. Mordecai pushed a branch out of his way as he marched.

Roughly fifty minutes had passed since the firefight and Mordecai's adrenaline had gone down. Now he warily watched everything around him as he walked. The marines had formed a line in which each man was about ten paces away from the other man's shoulder. With this type of line, Mordecai figured they would be able to spot more things.

To Mordecai's left was Private Thrasher who was walking at a sort of slow pace, sweeping his gun left to right very slowly. On Mordecai's right was Private Yoyo. The boy was using his gun as a type of arm rest, making the gun's strap support the gun and his arms.

As Mordecai kept walking nothing interesting was happened. Everyone was quiet, only the sounds of the jungle seemed to interrupt the silence. Mordecai pushed another branch out of the way and suddenly found himself entering a soggy rice field. This surprised him a bit, but not enough to stop him. The marines walked forward.

The lieutenant passed by several Vietnamese civilians harvesting rice. As he did a majority of them stopped to watch him and the other marines. Mordecai stared straight ahead, not paying them much attention. Every time he stepped, Mordecai had to lift his boots up higher than usual because the mud was starting to glue his boots to the ground.

The marines eventually exited the field and entered the jungle again. After what seemed like another hour of marching the marines came to a clearing. It was a circular clearing that was about fifteen kilometers in diameter. In the middle was a small village which Mordecai took to be Chu-Lee.

"Marines, halt," Mordecai shouted and the marines stopped. "Who in this platoon is the interpreter?"

"I am sir," Yoyo said stepping forward, "Sorry I forgot to tell you the first day, sir."

"It's fine, just find out if this is Chu-Lee. The rest of you, search the village for weapons, bombs, or any other supplies that the Gooks could use and destroy it. Move out soldiers!"

The men started off toward the village and Mordecai followed. As the marines entered the village the civilians that occupied it were a bit surprised. But they did nothing to anger the men. Mordecai entered a hut to search while Fox stayed outside.

In the hut was a single bed, a table with two chairs, a rug, and a window. Mordecai checked under the rug first and found nothing. Next he took the mattress of the bed, again found nothing, and tossed it back on. Mordecai was about to leave when he spotted a rather big clay pot in the corner farthest from the entrance. Curious, he walked over and leaned his rifle against the hut wall.

First he checked inside the light red pot and found nothing. Then he lifted up the pot and moved it. As he did he spotted a trap door.

'Bingo,' Mordecai thought.

Quickly he removed his flak jacket and got out his .45 caliber pistol with and a flashlight.

"Fox, I'm checkin' out this rat hole. If I'm not back in five minutes, toss a grenade in there," Mordecai said, looking over his shoulder at Fox. The marine nodded. Mordecai was about to jump in when Fox stopped him.

"You're gonna need this for after words." He handed Mordecai a charge and its detonator.

"Thanks."

With that Mordecai turned and jumped into the hole. The light that came in from the entrance of the hut was blocked out by his shadow. Mordecai quickly turned on the flashlight and cocked the pistol. The tunnel was too small for him to walk in so Mordecai crouched down and started moving along at a slow pace. The lieutenant looked around wearily as he crept forward. After a couple of seconds he spotted a hole in front of him that was halfway blocked by a crate.

Quickly Mordecai moved forward and squeezed past the crate. The tunnel opened up into a dome shaped dirt room. To Mordecai's left and right were crates of ammunition, weapons, food, and other supplies. There were a couple of lamps placed randomly around the room. In front of him were three makeshift metal beds. Two were unoccupied and had blotches of blood on them. The last however was occupied by a young Vietnamese boy who had black pants and sandals on.

His black hair was matted against his skull and his skin was tanned to a caramel color. Bandages were wrapped around the boy's side and diagonally across his chest. The bandages were stained dark red. The boy's breath was raspy and shallow. The boy stared at Mordecai intensely; his eyes were filled with fear.

"It's alright, I'm not gonna hurt you," Mordecai said quickly, holstering his .45 and clicking of his flashlight. "I can help you."

Mordecai started to approach the boy and he started breathing quicker.

"No," he whispered, "Get away! You lie like last ones! You will destroy town just like last time!"

"I promise I won't harm you or the village," Mordecai said reaching the bed. "I can help you. Just let me get you out of this place." He tried to pick up the boy but he started struggling.

"No, no, no! Go away! Go away!" The boy started punching Mordecai.

'The hell with this,' Mordecai thought, lowering the boy. Suddenly he punched the boy hard on the side of the head, knocking him out. 'That should make it easier,' he thought.

With that, Mordecai lifted the boy up, walked over to the hole in the wall, and set him down near the entrance. Then he turned around and jogged over to one of the metal table. After clearing it off, he stood up on it and took out the charge. He placed it onto the ceiling and made it stay with some rope that was lying around. After arming it, he jogged back over to the hole in which he had come through.

He moved the crate that had been blocking it, then slipped in. When he was fully inside the tunnel Mordecai turned around and pulled the boy in. With his .45 caliber in one hand and the boy in the other, Mordecai slowly started making his way down the tunnel.

When he was halfway down the tunnel Mordecai suddenly heard something that made him freeze; gunfire. As soon as he found out that it had come from outside he started moving again. Quickening his pace, Mordecai arrived at the entrance in less than a minute.

"Fox, I'm coming out," he yelled so that Fox wouldn't accidentally shoot him. Mordecai pulled himself out of the hole, then the boy.

As soon as he was out, Mordecai grabbed the detonator and pushed the button in the middle of the small yellow rectangle. Both Mordecai and Fox heard the explosion. When it was done Mordecai looked around at Fox.

"Get this boy to the pickup zone and tell Nathan to call in two choppers. Who fired their gun?" Mordecai asked standing up.

"I don't know, sir. But it came for the south end of the village," Fox answered.

Mordecai nodded and grabbed his flak jacket and rifle. Then he sprinted out the door. As he was running Mordecai slipped on his flak jacket and made sure his M16 was loaded.

When he reached his destination Mordecai saw Sergeant Sparrow aiming his rifle at a corpse of a Vietnamese on the ground. Sparrow's gun barrel was still smoking from the shots. On the ground next to the dead man was Yoyo. The young marine looked scared.

"What happened?" Mordecai asked.

"He was a VC sir," Sparrow said, pointing to the corpse. "Came after Yoyo with a knife."

"W-would have gotten me too if Sparrow hadn't been here," Yoyo said in a shaky tone.

"Good thing he was here then," Mordecai said as he walked over and helped Yoyo up off the ground. "Now let's go, the choppers will be arriving soon. Sparrow, go let everyone know that we're leaving."

"Yes, sir," the sergeant said before walking off.

Mordecai and Yoyo walked through the village and joined Fox and Nathan at the entrance. The boy was still unconscious.

"Who's he?" Yoyo asked suspiciously, eying the boy.

"Just a kid whose home is in the middle of a war zone," Mordecai responded.

The four marines were soon joined by the rest of the platoon right as the helicopters were arriving. As the two Hueys touched down Mordecai yelled, "Alright marines, onto the choppers."

Sparrow, Wolock, Turner, Mordecai, and Venny jumped onto the first one. The rest of the platoon got on the second one. As soon as the Huey was full it took off. When they were off the ground the gunner sighed with relief.

"What?" Mordecai asked curiously.

The gunner, a guy who looked to be about nineteen, looked over at him. He was wearing a green pilot helmet and a green fatigue. His skin was white and he wore black sunglasses. "Well sir," he said as the Huey started moving through the sky. "If we had gotten here any later then you would have been overrun by VC. A whole army of them is heading toward the village right now!"

As if to prove the marine's point the Huey passed over the rice fields that Mordecai's platoon had walked through earlier. Before it had been practically empty. Now Mordecai could see out a huge group of Viet Congs walking through it. As the Huey flew overhead a couple of Vietnamese looked up for a second before they started marching again. Mordecai stared in amazement, realizing that if the Huey had been late most of the platoon would most likely be dead.

"Damn," he muttered. It was the only thing that he could think of to express his amazement.

As the helicopter flew through the air the young lieutenant soon noticed that the sky was darkening at a fast rate. Suddenly Mordecai realized that he was tired. He had barely gotten any sleep last night and the firefight earlier had taken a lot of energy out of him.

Drowsily Mordecai shut his eyes, hoping to get some sleep on the ride back to base. Before he knew it, Mordecai was being shaken awake by Wolock.

"Wake up sir, where back at base."

Mordecai nodded sleepily, then stood up and stumbled off the helicopter. As he walked through the camp he barely noticed anything that was going on. He found Captain Wales and gave him a report of the patrol. After the captain dismissed him, Mordecai walked in a haze back to his hooch and collapsed on his bed. He didn't even take off his boots.

Mordecai slept peacefully, not having a single dream.

Margaret was sleeping too, though not so peace fully. She was having another nightmare. It wasn't like the previous ones.

This time she was sitting in an old rickety wooden chair. In front of her was a wooden table that was covered with scratches. On the other side of the table was an empty wooden chair.

All around her it was pitch black. The only source of light came from a small ceiling lamp that hung over the table. The light formed a small circle that only surrounded the chairs and the table.

Suddenly a figure stepped out from the darkness surprising her. It was Mordecai. She gasped at the sight of her husband. He looked like he had been beaten up. He had a black eye and his left cheek was covered with dried blood. He was wearing a green short sleeved shirt and some green cargo pants, both of which had been cut and torn in several places. Some blood dripped from a gash in his right arm that was located a couple inches behind his wrist.

She stared at him horrified. She could see the pain in his eyes, the pain that suffering had caused. There was something else in his eyes. They looked tired.

He stared at her for a second, then pulled the chair away from the table and sat in it. Mordecai sat in silence for a second, just staring at her. Then he pulled out a black short nosed revolver with a wooden handle. He set it on the table and spun it.

The revolver spun on the table and as it started to slow Margaret's fear rose. She had no idea what was going on but she didn't like the looks of it. Suddenly Mordecai said in a fearful yet reassuring voice,

"It'll be okay Yoyo. I promise. Trust me."

'Who's Yoyo?' Margaret thought.

As the revolver slowed to a stop the barrel ended up pointing at Mordecai. He stared at it for a second, then timidly picked it up by the handle and placed it against the side of his head.

"Mordecai what are you doing?" Margaret screamed.

"It'll be alright," the blue-jay said in a shaky tone one more time.

Then he pulled the trigger. Margaret woke up screaming again. She sat up quickly. Soon her screams died down and were replaced by sobs.

"He's fine," Margaret told herself as tears rolled down her cheeks. "He's fine. He will come back to me in one piece. He will." Then after a second she whispered, "He has to. I can't live without him."

**Thanks for reading and let me know what you think. See ya next time.**


	9. A Week Gone By

**Hey, here's chapter 9. It took awhile 'cause of school, but that doesn't matter. Read and review.**

Chapter 9

He stared at the wall, hoping it would change. His hoping was for nothing. The wall still remained to be made of dirt, as did the floor and the ceiling. The bamboo bars still blocked the entrance. The guards still waited just outside of the bars.

'Just waiting,' He thought, turning his exhausted gaze onto the Viet Congs. 'Like me. Waiting…for orders. We're both soldiers, both savage killing animals. Our orders are to kill each other,' he thought.

"So kill me," the blond marine muttered.

Suddenly the guard opened the bamboo gate and stepped in.

"Please,…just kill me…"

**A month and three weeks earlier**

Margaret woke up groggily. She sat up slowly and looked over at the clock. It read eight forty in the morning. Sleepily the tired wife slumped back, resting her back on her pillow and the back of her head on the bed's head. Looking up at her white painted ceiling, Margaret inhaled slowly, waited for a second, then the air out.

Then, after another minute of looking up at the plain white ceiling, she sat up fully, turned and got out of bed. She slipped her feet into her only pair of soft red slippers and shuffled out of the bed room. Outside in the hallway she yawned and turned on the hall light. The light lit up the yellow walls and the pictures that were on a wooden shelf.

The wooden shelf ran down width of the wall facing Margaret and it held all sorts of things. On the left side that led to the entrance of the hallway a few small pictures that Mordecai had drawn and bought lined the shelf. Because he had gone to art school, Mordecai had been able to draw and paint great pictures of Margaret while they had been dating. In fact the drawings had been one of the things that had convinced Margaret to marry him. Margaret smiled at the pictures, each bringing back a fond memory of her husband.

To the right photographs lined the wall. Each photo had either Mordecai or Margaret in them, most of the times both. It started with a picture of Mordecai and Margaret at their wedding.

They were both smiling for the camera. Mordecai had been dressed in a black and white tux while Margaret wore a brides dress. There was a miniature arch behind them that the preacher usually stood under, but he had not been in the picture. They were both standing on a wooden platform and standing next to each other, Mordecai seemed to be an inch or two taller than Margaret. The couple in the picture looked so happy, as if nothing could force them apart.

'Boy where we wrong,' Margaret thought, half smiling at the irony.

There were other photographs too; pictures of Mordecai and Rigby when they were still at the park. There were photos of Eileen and Margaret at the coffee shop, and, most importantly, two or three photos of the four friends at Mordecai and Margaret's wedding. Margaret smiled at the memory that the couple became married. It was the same day that Muscle Man destroyed their wedding cake and Rigby was found kissing Eileen in the back of the church.

After studying the pictures, Margaret shuffled into the kitchen and started brewing some coffee. While the coffee was brewing Margaret picked up the first letter she had gotten from Mordecai. It had been a week since she had received the first letter. She had received half of his first paycheck in the mail yesterday. Margaret read over the letter again and smiled.

"He's probably fine," She muttered.

Suddenly the light on the coffee maker went off and it started beeping. Margaret poured herself a cup of black coffee, poured some creamer in it, and went to sit down on the couch. As she walked over she thought,

'Maybe I should go hang out with Eileen after work today. That oughta easy my stressed mind a little.'

Margaret grabbed the small black remote as she sat down and turned on the small TV with light brown wooden frames. The screen lit up and Margaret gasped in surprise.

The black and white screen showed Mordecai, staring into the camera. He was dressed in his green fatigue with a light green flak jacket and green helmet on. His M-16 rifle was strapped to his shoulder. There was a little dirt was on his face and there were stubs of a beard on his chin, but besides that he looked perfectly fine. He was sort of half smiling for the camera while he talked about his experience Vietnam.

"Well you see, it's actually kinda cool over here. The beautiful jungles and what not. I mean, besides these VC trying to kill ya every other day, this place is pretty cool."

Suddenly the phone rang. Margaret snatched it up and said,

"Quintel residence, Margaret speaking."

"Margaret," Rigby said quickly, "You gotta see this, Mordecai's on TV! And he looks awesome!"

"I know!" Margaret said excitedly. "I just turned on the TV and saw him!"

"Alright, talk to ya later. He's about to finish," Rigby said before hanging up.

Margaret put the phone down and looked back up at the TV. Mordecai was just ending, saying,

"To my wife, Margaret, I love you. And to my best bro, Rigby, stay out of trouble. Don't want Benson firing you."

Then the reporter said,

"Thank you for those meaningful words lieutenant. And now the next marine, Private Bruce Wolock."

Before Wolock could start talking Margaret muted it so she could think.

'Thank god he's alive,' she thought. 'I wonder how he got on TV though.'

**Thirty minutes earlier in Vietnam**

"Quintel? Quintel, wake up!"

Mordecai's eyes snapped open. It was Bug Eyes.

"Wha, what'd you want," Mordecai asked groggily.

"Some reporters came in this morning to do some interviews and Captain Wales decided that your platoon should be the ones to be interviewed. Mainly because you guys have seen a surprising amount of action lately," Bug Eyes explained as Mordecai sat up.

It was true. Since the first two weeks he had been in Vietnam, Mordecai had seen about four fire fights, all during patrols. Though usually patrols were pretty boring and consisted of hours of walking through the jungle or rice fields. It was only on special occasions that Mordecai ever really saw any fighting.

Mordecai sat up rubbing his eyes. He yawned quietly and looked up at the other lieutenant. He was leaning against one of the bed posts looking back. Mordecai cracked his back before tossing on his undershirt and boots. After getting on his shirt Mordecai looked up at Bug Eyes and asked,

"When are the interviews?"

"In about twenty minutes. You might want to wake the other boys," Bug Eyes replied.

"Good," Mordecai muttered. "That means I've got time. Has breakfast started already?"

"Yep."

"Alright, I'll wake the men first. Thanks for wakin' me," Mordecai said as he walked toward the door.

"You're welcome."

Mordecai stepped out of the hooch, buttoning his shirt as he did so, and headed for his platoon's hooch. He barged in and flicked on the light. Mordecai saw that Sparrow and Turner had already left for breakfast. The men groaned as they were brutally woken.

"What the hell are ya doin'?!" Darrel yelled angrily.

"Time to wake up men," Mordecai said. "We're gettin' interviewed in twenty minutes. Get dressed and figure out what you wanna tell your moms."

"What are you gonna tell your mom?" Nathan asked as he sat up.

"Nothin'. I'm just going to tell my wife somethin'," Mordecai said.

"Ugh, it hurts to get up this early," Smith muttered as he got out of bed and limped over to his clothes.

Smith had gotten back from the hospital two days after the patrol all patched up. The only things that even suggested he had gotten hurt were the scars on the right side of his back and the slight limp he had. Besides that he was perfectly fine.

"Now that you all are awake I'm gonna go eat breakfast," Mordecai said as he left the hooch.

He walked down to the meal tent, also known as the mess tent, and was about to enter when he bumped into Ronny. Ronny was with another marine whose dog tags read Carson, Will. His face seemed familiar enough that Mordecai was sure he had seen him before.

"Hey bro," Ronny said grinning. "How ya holdin' up?"

"I'm good," Mordecai replied, still studying Carson. Ronny saw this and said,

"Oh, Mordecai, meet Will. Will meet my brother Mordecai. Mordecai I'm sure you remember Will. He was my best friend in Elementary School."

Suddenly Mordecai remembered. Will had moved into Twin Pines and started in the same grade as Ronny. They immediately became good friends and every weekend for the next few years Mordecai recalled the blond haired trouble maker and his brother would hang out. Whenever trouble occurred in the town that was not caused by Mordecai and Rigby, it was usually Ronny and Will's fault. Mordecai grinned at the memories. Then to Ronny he said,

"Of course I remember Will. How could I forget after that prank that you guys pulled on Muscle Man?"

Mordecai was referring to the time his younger brother and Will had egged Muscle Man's house in fifth grade. When the fat angry green teenager came out to yell, they had both pelted him with eggs and darted off. All of them laughed at the memory.

"Of course I remember you. Hey, how are ya?" Mordecai asked Will.

"I'm good. Hate this deathtrap of a place, but I'm good," Will said, smiling. "Hey, I gotta get to my platoon. Me and Ronny are about to on patrol with First Platoon."

"Alright, ya'll can go," Mordecai said. "Just don't let the gooks get ya." He meant it as a joke.

"Don't worry," Will said, "I'll put us both down if it comes to that."

"Are you kidding me? You could barely kill a gook. How would ya be able to put me down?" Ronny asked.

Before the two could start an argument Mordecai dismissed them and walked into the mess tent. He grabbed a gray tray and let the cook scoop lumpy mashed potatoes, powdered eggs, again, broccoli, and water. Mordecai muttered thanks and went to sit at an officers table. He ate his food fast, so as not to taste it. When Mordecai was done he gave his tray back and headed for his hooch to get on the rest of his gear.

Meanwhile Ronny was making sure his shotgun was loaded as his chopper lifted off into the air. On his left was Will and across from him sat Titan. Titan was short and stocky with big arms that made the M-60 he carried look small. With a completely opposite build, Will sat a good inch or two taller than Ronny with a long wiry body that made his sniper rifle seem like an extension of his body.

Ronny was not paying attention to this though. Once he was done checking his rifle he tried to relax and waited for radio announcer to stop talking and play the song. The announcer was saying,

"Well I have to agree with ya John, that story about those Woolson brothers over there in Vietnam really does pull at your heart strings. In fact, let's make this next song a tribute to them. Hit it John."

The announcer's voice stopped talking and the mellow beat of 'For What It's Worth' rolled out of the radio speakers. Then the lyrics came.

"_There's somethin' happenin' here…and what it is ain't exactly clear."_

Ronny laughed. The lyrics actually made perfect since in his situation. He was here in the middle of a war, fighting an enemy that was hiding in the shadows. And he did not even really know why. Sure the politics said it-

"_There's a man with a gun over there, a tellin' me I got to beware."_

-was to help the South Vietnamese with their fight, but that still did not seem to make much since.

'It's all just a load of bullshit,' Ronny thought, staring at Titan's tattoo on his left bicep.

"_I think it's time we stop children. What's that sound? Everybody look what's going down."_

The tattoo was of a bald eagle head. Below in block print a sentence said, 'SOAR HIGH AND NEVER DIE!'

"_There's battle lines being drawn…And nobody's right if everybody's wrong."_

Ronny turned and decided to start talking with Will.

"Hey Will," Ronny yelled over the whooshing sound of the Huey blades.

"_Young_ _people speaking their minds…Getting so much resistance from behind."_

"What?" Will yelled back.

"How much-,"

"_I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound? Everybody look what's going down."_

"-you wanna bet we don't see any action this time?"

"_What a field-day for the heat. A thousand people in the street."_

"We never see any action!" Will yelled back.

They had both stopped listening to the lyrics. The helicopter stopped as it flew over a grass field. Slowly, it descended to the ground, stopping to hover ten feet off the ground.

"Everyone out! Move it!" a tall, firmly built, black haired sergeant yelled as the marines jumped out.

Ronny jumped, hit the ground, and was jogging to catch up with Will who was a few feet ahead of him. He secured his helmet as he caught up with his friend.

"But what if we do?" Ronny asked, continuing their conversation. "Then you can say you were right…for once."

"What is that s'posed to mean; for once?" Will asked.

Ronny grinned for he knew that Will would never say no to the bet now.

"Well I just mean that usually you always take the wrong side of a bet and maybe this time, you could prove me wrong. Of course you probably won't take-," Ronny started to say casually, but Will interrupted him.

"No, no, no, I'll take the bet. I got a good feelin' about it this time anyway," Will said.

"Great," Ronny said, grinning.

He held out his hand and they shook, making the bet official.

"And if you're right, you can have my desert," Ronny added.

"Can't wait," Will said. "Two slices of the crap cooks call apple pie!"

The lieutenant yelled for them to march forward. Still smiling, Ronny and Will started walking through the tall elephant grass. They, like the other marines, were unaware of the dozens of pairs of eyes that watched them from afar, their owners waiting to attack.

**Hope ya liked it. Have a good day. By the way, whoever can guess who the two marines are in the dirt prison get a prize. Warning: They may not be who you expect.**


	10. A Tortured Prisoner and A Waiting Wife

**Alright, tenth chapter! I've decided, after being requested, that I should write a chapter that mainly focuses on Margaret. This chapter starts with the prisoner and goes to Margaret. I hope ya'll like this.**

Chapter 10

The guard that had stepped in was dressed in black clothing with and ammo belt around his waist. He was carrying an AK-47 that at the moment was slung over his shoulder. The Vietcong walked up to blond marine on the floor and gave him a small kick, saying,

"Hãy đứng dậy! (Get up!)"

The marine, not understanding, just stared at the guard in tired curiosity. The guard repeated himself, louder this time and still the marine stared.

"Bạn mảnh vô giá trị của shit! (Get up you worthless piece of shit!)," the Vietcong yelled angrily, kicking the marine hard enough this time to make him double over.

"Vận động (Move)," the guard at the entrance said as a gun barrel was jabbed against the marine's temple.

Finally understanding a little bit, the marine mustered enough strength to rise, shaking unsteadily. He almost bumped his head on the low dirt ceiling. The marine steadied himself and hesitantly took a step forward. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head as the guard next to him smacked him on the back of the head with the butt of the AK-47. As the prisoner fell hard the guards laughed.

The marine groaned at the numb pain. His eyes caught the blue jay's eyes and for a second the blue jay tried to get up, to help his fallen friend. But he could not. The wounded soldier did not have enough strength to help his friend. All he could do was watch as the marine that he had known since childhood was dragged out of the dirt prison.

The blond marine was dragged though dirt tunnels with semicircle ceilings. Through passage ways and tunnels, he was brought deeper into the Earth. Then, the guards and the prisoner entered a room. The walls had no windows, the only entrance was the one they had come through, and the only light came from a hanging lamp in the roof. The overhead light cast eerie shadows that seemed to jump out of the wall.

The prisoner was dragged over to the opposite wall where a wooden bar with cuffs on it was staked to the floor and rope was attached to the wall. The marine suddenly felt fear creeping into his barely pumping heart. He knew what this torture devise was. As the two guards aggressively hooked him up, he let out the slightest whimper. After cuffing his ankles to the wooden plank and tying the rope so tightly that it restricted blood flow, the two guards stood back to admire their handy work.

Upon hearing footsteps in the hallway, the two soldiers turned around and saluted another Vietnamese man. He was known to the marine as The Interpreter. The three men discussed for a minute in Vietnamese before one of the guards, the one that had knocked him down in the cell block, walked behind the prisoner and put his foot on the prisoner's back. The other guard stood back and watched. The Interpreter walked up and squatted so that he was a few inches from the marine's face.

"Welcome back," the Interpreter said. The marine said nothing.

"We have some questions for you," the Viet Cong said.

"What," the marine's growl was barely audible.

"Where are the marines preparing to strike?" the Cong asked.

"I don't know," The marine said.

The Viet Cong looked up to the guard behind the marine and nodded. Suddenly the prisoner's upper torso was slammed down, his face ramming right into the compact dirt floor. His arms were yanked back by the rope. When he came up he saw the Interpreter was enjoying this.

"Where are the marines going to attack next?" he repeated.

"I don't know," the marine said angrily.

Again he was slammed down and this time he felt his nose crunch a little. Upon coming up the marine felt blood trickling from his nose.

"Where?"

"I don't know," the marine voice rose.

Slam! Crunch! More blood was running down his face.

"Where?"

"I don't know!" the marine yelled.

Two slams this time in quick succession.

"Where?"

"For God's sakes, I don't know!" The marine yelled, spit and blood flying form his mouth.

Slam!

**A month and three weeks earlier**

The mug slammed onto the wooden table as Slasher spat out the coffee. He angrily looked around for the waitress that had just given him the cup of coffee. Upon spotting her, he said,

"Hey! Hey you! Waitress, come 'ere!"

Eileen looked over at the angry customer and sighed before walking over to Slasher's table.

"What can I do for you, sir?" Eileen said, forcing a fake politeness into her voice.

"This coffee tastes like shit! Plus its cold," Slasher said angrily.

"I'm so sorry sir," Eileen said, taking the mug. "Let me take that back and get you a better cup."

She did not wait for a response; she just turned and hurried away. Just as Eileen entered the kitchen Lou finished a soda. Lou was the coffee shop cook. He was just below average height with a goatee died red. Lou was about four years younger than Eileen. He had blond hair tied back into a pony tail that added a boyish aspect to his face. His hands were big, considering his size, while his legs were short and bulky. Lou looked up when Eileen entered.

"Customer's complainin' about the coffee," Eileen said, holding out the cup.

"Le' me see that," Lou said, taking the cup.

After studying it for a second he flicked on one of the grills and held the cup over it until it was warm. He was about to hand it back when he held up a finger. Lou gathered up some mucus spat directly into the coffee. He grabbed a spoon, stirred the coffee, and then handed it back to Eileen.

"I heard him yellin' and I don't like it when customers are mean to the waitresses. This is just a little revenge," Lou said grinning.

Eileen grinned too.

"Thanks," she said before going back out into the shop.

She handed Slasher his cup and watched from a distance as Slasher gulped down the coffee. Eileen had to hide her grin. Slasher proceeded to get up and walk out the door without paying. On his way out he bumped into Margaret, who was on her way in.

"Hey baby," Slasher said, grinning devilishly.

Margaret just hmphed and continued walking.

"Where's your shithead boyfriend?" Slasher asked.

"First of all," Margaret said angrily turning to her ex-boyfriend, "his name is Mordecai and he's not a shithead. Second of all, we're married and he's in Vietnam."

She turned without another word and walked down the steps to her friend. Slasher growled before leaving. Margaret smiled at her friend and they quickly started chatting.

"How are you, I haven't seen you for a while," Margaret said.

"I know. I'm doing good," Eileen said, "Business has been pretty slow and the boss is becoming more of a jerk than usual. Hold on, let me change and we can talk on the way to that club, Box."

Margaret nodded and sat in a nearby chair. As Eileen quickly changed Margaret watched the sun while it made its steady decent down, throwing bars of sunlight across the tile floor. Soon Eileen came out dressed in some casual cloths and the two friends headed out. As they walked down the sidewalk Eileen continued the conversation.

"So how are you? You still havin' those nightmares?" Eileen asked in a concerned tone.

"Yes," Margaret sighed, "But there not as bad as the first ones."

"Good," Eileen said. "How's your new job?"

"It's steady," Margaret said. "Though it could be better."

"Same here," Eileen said.

The friends continued to walk and talk. Meanwhile, Rigby was also walking to the club known as Box. After seeing his friend on T.V., seeing that he was okay, Rigby decided to go out and celebrate. Box was the only place he could think of as a good place to celebrate.

At the moment he was walking through the dark alleys of the city to get to the club. By the time he had found it the sun nearly gone. Upon entering Rigby was blinded by the light beams that were bouncing off the disco ball. Once his eyes adjusted to the light he walked in and took a seat at one of the booths. Two booths down a couple was smoking weed together. A fast dance song was playing which attracted lots of people to the dance floor.

Then he noticed Margaret and Eileen enter and take a seat on the other side of the room. Smiling, Rigby made his way to their booth.

"Hey girls," Rigby greeted his friends.

Margaret jumped, a little surprised, while Eileen smiled.

"Hey Rigby, what brings you here," Eileen asked.

"Celebrating," Rigby replied as he took a seat next to Eileen.

"Celebrating what?" Margaret asked.

"I saw Mordecai on T.V. today and I was just glad to see him alive. You remember, don't ya?" Rigby asked Margaret.

"Of course," Margaret said, "best part of my day."

Rigby nodded in agreement. A minute of silence followed. This was broken by a waitress who skated up to the table.

"Hello there," she said, "May I take your order."

"Uh, yeah," Rigby said, "A large chocolate cake with milk and then whatever these two want." He pointed to his two friends.

The waiter nodded and looked at Margaret and Eileen.

"Coca-Cola," Margaret said.

"Milk for me too," Eileen said.

"Alright, we'll have those right out for ya," the waitress said before skating backwards into the crowd.

The three friends started chatting again. Suddenly a slow song came on. At first Rigby did not even hear it. Soon, though, he noticed Eileen staring at him.

"What?" He asked.

"So, um, Rigby," Eileen said, pausing, "Would you like to dance?"

Then Rigby noticed the music. After thinking for a second he said,

"Well, I guess," he said hesitantly. He quickly added, "But just one song."

With that said, Eileen practically dragged Rigby out onto the floor. They started out with Rigby half holding Eileen at a distance, but as the song progressed the two moved closer together. Margaret could not help but smile at them.

'They do make a cute couple,' she thought.

The two did not seem to notice when the song changed, they kept stepping together. After a while Margaret stood and decided to look around the place.

Most of the people in the club were on the dance floor, but there were a few people who were not. There was the couple getting high in the booth, another couple was making out in one of the corners, and a couple of women about Margaret's age sitting in a booth near the dance floor. The women were wearing similar outfits; bell bottom jeans with loose t-shirts and long hair. One woman was wearing a white loose robe-like dress.

For some reason the group looked familiar to Margaret, but she could not place her finger on it. Then one of the four women looked up and made eye contact with her. As it happened, Margaret realized that they had been friends with her in high school. The girl looking at her seemed to realize this to because she said something to her friends. Quickly, they all looked over at Margaret. After a second of staring a girl with a hairband called out,

"Margaret? Is that you?"

She nodded and the girl said,

"Come on, come over here."

Margaret obeyed and when she reached the booth the girl motioned for her to sit down. Margaret did so and, after getting a good look, she was able to place names with faces. The woman with the hairband was Alice, the woman with the robe was Kat, the girl wearing a peace chain around her neck was Lacy, and the girl with pink sunglasses was Gloria. They all smiled at her and she smiled back.

"I can't believe it's you," Alice said. "I mean, once you left for college we thought we wouldn't ever see ya again."

"I had the same feeling," Margaret responded, grinning.

"So how are you?" Gloria asked. "Tell us everything that happened since you went to college."

"Well, okay," Margaret said, "So I went to a public college in this place for a while. During college I worked as a waitress in the coffee shop near the park, ya know, just on the outskirts of the city. So I was working there and balancing college when one day a blue-jay and his friend, a raccoon, walk into the shop and order some coffee. I get it for them and keep on going through my day. During that time I was also had a new boyfriend ever two weeks or so. Ya gotta understand that I was experimenting in those days."

Margaret stopped to take a breath and saw that the girls were listening intently. She continued.

"So anyway, one week when I didn't have a boyfriend I noticed that every time the blue-jay came in he'd start staring at me whenever he thought I wasn't looking. I eventually realized that he had a crush on me. But that was a while later on. Sometimes I would hear his friend joking about me and him getting together. Anyway, Eileen and I got to know them better and eventually all four of us became friends. Eileen had an obvious crush on his friend and one day we-,"

Margaret was suddenly cut off by Eileen calling her name. She looked back to see her friend waving for her to come over.

"Sorry girls, I gotta go," Margaret said.

"Hey, come hang out with us some time," Alice said, handing Margaret a piece of paper with an address scribbled on it. "We meet at my place to hang out on Saturdays," Alice explained.

Margaret nodded and said a quick goodbye before going over to Eileen.

"What," she asked her friend.

"Rigby wants to leave. Somethin' about Benson wanting him back at the park at a certain time," Eileen said.

"Well then let's get going," Margaret said.

Eileen nodded and they walked outside where Rigby was, forgetting to pay. When Rigby saw them he started walking with them. Margaret was walking a few steps behind Rigby and Eileen. After walking for a while Margaret witnessed Rigby's hand reach over and gently take hold Eileen's hand. Eileen did not let go and Margaret was again reminded of how cute a couple they made.

Eileen was a little surprised when it happened, but quickly filled with delight. She smiled as she held onto Rigby's hand and did not let go until they came to the coffee shop. Then, after saying their goodbyes, the three friends went their separate ways.

**Thanks for readin'. Now, go enjoy the day or something. I'm hoping to get the next chapter up soon.**


	11. Ambush

**I know it's been awhile but give me a break, I just had exams. On a completely different note: WHOO, chapter 11 baby. Double digests. By the way, this celebratory part was supposed to be for chapter ten but I forgot. So anyway, here's chapter eleven. Enjoy. **

Chapter 11

He could not feel his hands or his face anymore. During the torture session it had not taken long before he lost all feeling in his arms because his blood circulation was cut off. About sixteen face slams later he lost feeling in his nose and forehead. Then his jaw went numb. Now he could barely see the Viet Cong soldiers that were dragging him to a prison room because his eyes had swollen almost completely shut. He relied on his hearing to get him through the day.

What he heard was the scraping of an old steel door opening to a new holding cell. He knew what they were doing; they were secluding him from the other prisoners. They had done that with the sergeant too….right before they killed him.

The two NVA soldiers threw him onto the floor of the new cell and closed the door. He heard them laughing as they left. Darkness enveloped his world and for the first time in weeks he felt truly scared and horrified. He curled up into a ball on the floor and let a single tear drag down his face. Then, he fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

** A month and three weeks earlier**

It had all happened so suddenly that Will had had to pull Ronny down behind cover to keep him from walking into the gunfire. Ronny had just been walking with the rest of the platoon in a line through the elephant grass toward the trees. The trees went on for a while and eventually gave way to two mountains with a river between the two peaks. Ronny had seen it from the helicopter.

The private had just been listening to a black corporal who was carrying an M-79 grenade launcher and wore a Boonie Hat over his short dread locks. The corporal had been complaining about how the government was treating the black society like shit. Ronny had barely been paying attention.

"Yes sir, our gove'nment startsin' wars an den sendin' us blacks to go fight it fo' dem," the corporal said, unknowingly speaking his last words.

The next second he was dead, shot in the head by a 54 millimeter round. The round had been fired from a sniper with an SVD (Dragunov) rifle who was hiding in the tree line while most the rest of the North Vietnamese soldiers charged through the field. Ronny had not noticed he was dead until Will had pulled him down and he saw the diseased corporal. The dead body twitched violently for ten more long seconds.

Then it stopped and Ronny smelled the stench of the dead body releasing its bowels. The young private stared horror stricken at the lifeless body, unable to contemplate what had just happened. Next to him Will had gotten up on one knee and was firing off round after round. He stopped to reload and saw Ronny still staring at the dead body.

"Ronny," he shouted in his friend's ear. "Get your shit together; we gotta get to better cover!"

The blue-jay looked up at him and Will saw realization come to his friend's eyes. He nodded and slowly picked up his shotgun. Ronny switched off the safety and pumped once.

"Let's get goin'," he said.

Will grinned and got up into a crouch. Ronny followed his lead and they both ran parallel to the oncoming Viet Cong soldiers. They were running so hard and so fast that Will practically tripped over a wounded marine that the medic and the black haired sergeant were trying to revive.

"You two," the sergeant yelled as soon as Will stumbled across them. "Stay here and cover our asses now! Don't let any gooks get to us. Got that?!"

The two friends nodded and quickly got on one knee. Ronny got on the left of the dying marine and Will got on the right. Ronny waited, every muscle in his body tense. Suddenly he heard a war cry and accidently stood up.

There, two feet in front of him, was a charging Viet Cong. Ronny's shotgun was up before the Viet Cong noticed him. The private did not wait longer than a split second before pulling the trigger. The shell sent the Viet Cong's now lifeless body back a foot.

Ronny got down and pumped the shotgun again. He repeated this way of killing three more times. The fourth time he shot the Viet Cong and was about to crouch down again when he noticed a marine running towards him and the other marines.

"An evac chopper's here," the marine started yelling. "An evca chopper is-," and then Ronny heard a click.

A second later the marine's legs were blown to bits as the land mine went off. The legless man landed right next to Ronny. The blue-jay stared down at the marine who returned the same surprised look. Blood was starting to drip and bubble down from his mouth.

"Oh…oh g-God it hurts," he started sputtering, accidentally spitting blood onto Ronny's boot. "Help me," he whispered. Then he yelled, "Help me."

"I-I, uh, oh Jesus," Ronny stuttered.

"Move," the medic said, pushing Ronny out of the way. "The other one's dead, Sergeant Homes. Take his tags and help me get this boy to the chopper."

The Homes appeared next to the medic a minute later with the dead marine's dog tags and they started to drag the legless man away. As they did Homes yelled at Ronny and Will, "You two cover our retreat and stay with us!"

Ronny and Will did so, running to catch up with the three marines. They kept their guns raised as they followed, keeping their eyes on the fields. Will sniped two Viet Cong and Ronny killed three more before the group got to the helicopter.

Two Hueys were already full and up in the sky. The one on the ground was a medical helicopter. Two crewmen jumped out, took the wounded marine, and got him on a stretcher in the Huey. Then the medic, Homes, Will, and Ronny got on.

Will sat on the edge and started picking off Vietnamese soldiers. Ronny sat down in a seat next to Will and slowly let out a sigh of relief.

"We're alive," Ronny muttered as he wiped the sweat off his brow. "Oh thank God, we're alive. We fucking made it."

"Damn right we're alive," Will said as he reloaded. Then he looked back and smiled at Ronny. "I guess I won that bet."

Ronny laughed once. Will turned back and continued sniping. As the chopper took off Homes sat down next to Ronny and the medic took the seat across from Ronny.

"That the first time you two seen action?" Homes asked, looking over at Ronny and Will.

"Yes sir," Ronny said.

"Well you two handled it well."

"Thank you sir," Ronny said. The blue-jay turned back to look at the field that was slowly getting smaller. "I just can't wait to get back to base."

Unfortunately, Ronny and everyone else on the medical helicopter were unaware of the Viet Cong with an RPG that was almost right under the helicopter. The RPG was loaded and ready and as the Viet Cong took careful aim he felt no regret. Then, he fired. The rocket flew through the air and exploded against the side of the chopper, right behind the medic.

Shrapnel sliced into the medic like a knife threw soft cheese. The medic's dying body was thrown against Ronny. Then, before Ronny could contemplate what was happening he had slipped and accidentally knocked Will off with him. They both plummeted to the ground.

Ronny landed hard and his vision went fuzzy as he witnessed the helicopter spiral faster and faster toward the ground. Just before it hit the ground Ronny saw a figure that he thought might be Homes jump out of the now burning helicopter. Then the Huey impacted against the earth and exploded.

Figures started running up to the crash site and pillaging it. A couple of figures pulled someone out of the helicopter. The man was thrashing and kicking. They threw the man on the ground and one of the figures raised a rifle. Ronny saw the muzzle flash which was immediately followed by the sound of a gunshot.

Suddenly Ronny felt someone grab him and he was turned around to see a brown stock of an AK-47 falling fast toward his head. There was a sharp pain and then blackness.

The next time Ronny woke he was being dragged by someone. He looked back to see a Viet Cong dragging him. As he stared the Viet Cong noticed he was awake and punched him hard. Blackness, again.

The third time Ronny woke was when he was tossed onto a dirt floor. He slowly looked around to see the walls and ceiling were made of dirt. Will and Homes landed on either side of him before he heard the bamboo gate shut. Then he knew. He knew…that he was now a prisoner of war.

**Surprise, surprise for those of you who haven't caught on yet, Ronny and Will are the prisoners. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it and I'll try to get chapter 12 up as soon as humanly possible.**


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